Yay! Cassie and I finally weaseled our ways into the computer lab at the library at Univen, so I can actually take my time and catch up on e-mails, and this thing. The past couple days have been interesting and eventful, as has the rest of the trip thus far. Yesterday morning, we headed to Univen to meet our partners at 0800, as we were scheduled to meet our first group in the village at 0900. All 20 of us (yes, 20) piled into a bus and headed towards Tshapasha. It was not a smooth encounter, to say the least. First of all, the bus was late, meaning we were late. Since the beginning of this project, meaning months ago when we began planning, it was drilled into our heads that it was of the utmost importance to be on-time, every time, when dealing with this village. Secondly, there were twenty students engulfing this tiny village all at once, which was clearly overwhelming to the villagers. Cassie and I had been very clear with our advisor, as well as the advisor for the 10 nursing students that joined last-minute from Univen (I'll get into that fiasco later), that it was a bad idea to all show up at once. Despite our efforts, we were not listened to and we showed up to a very unhappy Water Committee, which was the group that had planned on meeting us that day. Apparently, Mary (the Univen advisor), despite not being at the meeting on Sunday when this was planned, thought that every group that we had formed at our Sunday gathering would be meeting that day. It was decided by the Committee as well as by the UVA and original Univen students, that a few of us would do the Water Committee group and the rest of us would just...kind of...hang out on the road until it was over. Cassie, Sid, and Styles had a very successful group session with the Water Committee, and it was decided that we would return on Thursday for a follow-up. Upon the conclusion of that meeting, a female elder approached us and asked if we would meet with the Elderly Women's Group on Thursday as well. Miriam, Kwathiso, and I will be running that meeting while the Water Committee has their follow-up.

After this situation, it was very clear that things had to change. Cassie and I were very firm with our advisor on the bus on the way back that we absolutely could not have 20 students involved in this project. Miriam had also informed me that the 10 nursing students that came on last-minute did so as an alternative to doing 'research', and were also told that they would be receiving breakfast and lunch every day. It was clear that the original Univen students (Styles, Elly, Kwathiso, Foster, and Walter), and the 5 UVA students (Cassie, Miriam, Joe, Sid, and I), needed to be the core group to figure things out, and communication and coordination were impossible with such a large group. Anita met with Mary, and it was decided that the nursing students would be on the project on an 'on call' basis. We were finally a little less stressed out about the whole thing, and relaxed by kicking around a soccer ball for an hour or so while having a beer. We were also able to plan for our trip this weekend to Kruger Park for Safari, since Acacia is booked for Saturday night for a wedding. Why anyone would want to have a wedding in that place I will never understand. We are all very excited to head out for Safari, as most of us have never done it before, and will likely never be able to do it again.

I thought it would be a good idea to have the 5 Univen students over for dinner and to strategize, so last night they all came over and we discussed plans for our return visits, as well as discussed a time-line for when we want certain things to be accomplished. I made dinner (of course!), which included a sweet potato, white bean, and swiss chard stew with lots of ginger and garlic. I also threw in some vegetarian sausages left over from the night before. I served it over rice, and it turned out really well! The spices here are fantastic, especially peri-peri, which is super spicy. Sid grilled some steaks, and when I realized that these folks eat a ton, Cassie and I prepared some spaghetti and fresh tomato and garlic sauce. Good thing we did, because there was literally not a single bit of food leftover. We wrapped up the evening with some South African macadamia nut and fruit liquor that Styles insisted I try, and headed to bed.

This morning, we got up somewhat early to come to Univen, as there is a conference going on here (PASA, which stands for Population Assessment of South Africa, and is focusing on Reproductive Health Awareness this year). The Minister of Health for the entire country was going to be speaking, and we were invited to check it out. It was supposed to start at 9, but it has been very clear since we arrived that South Africans don't really have much of a concept of time. Unfortunately, when Cassie and I heard that we could come to the computer lab at 10 to FINALLY be able to catch up, we walked around campus to look at the monkeys and the rugby stadium and came to the beautiful oasis also known as the computer lab. With internet! That's free! Yay!

Hopefully, I'll be able to come here periodically to check out e-mails, update this nerdy thing, etc. Keep your fingers crossed for me back home! Sending lots of love.